2 Chronicles 10:1-19
While Solomon was one of the wisest kings in Israel, his son Rehoboam did not inherit this wisdom. When Israel assembled to make him king, Jeroboam, returned from Egypt; and confronted him. He asked Rehoboam to lighten the load his father put on them. This transition of leadership gave them a glimmer of hope that Rehoboam would lift the heavy load of his father and the nation would remain unified. The elders who served Solomon encouraged Rehoboam to listen to the people and they would become his faithful servants. Yet he rejected the elders advice and embraced the counsel of this contemporaries with whom he had grown up. “But he forsook the counsel of the elders…” (8a) They returned the third day to hear Rehoboam’s response. “The king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders.” (13) While this all took place to fulfill the prophesy given to Jeroboam, we learn the valuable lesson that harshness and demanding voices do not bring unity and good leadership. There would now come a division remaining for hundreds of years. Sometimes peoples and cultures are looking for relief desiring to remain at peace, but harsh voices bring permanent division.